Sunday, 17 May 2015

When NOT to use Yours Sincerely

Yours faithfully and yours truly are the British and American equivalents used when signing off a letter to a recipient whose name you do not know.

Yours sincerely or Sincerely yours are used when you DO know the name of the recipient.

Mary Poppins' The Perfect Nanny is an example of how NOT to use Yours sincerely:

"Hurry nanny, Many thanks
Sincerely, Jane and Michael Banks".

Friday, 8 May 2015

Halogens and Diatomic Molecules in Swimming Pools

The halogens are a group in the periodic table consisting of the five related elements of fluorine, chlorine, bromine, iodine and astatine. It's also known as Group 7.

Group 1 elements react with Group 7 elements to form, for example, lithium bromide.

Halogens all exist as diatomic molecules, so Chlorine exists as Cl2, Fluorine similarly, two halogen atoms joined by a covalent bond (where electrons are shared between atoms).

 

Friday, 3 April 2015

Who was Alaric?

Alaric was the first King of the Visigoths, who emerged from the Gothic tribes, famous for his sack of Rome in 410. Alaric entered Rome via the Porta Salaria, part of the Aurelian walls. There are many famous gates to the Aurelian walls including the Porta Latina, Porta San Giovanni and Porta San Sebastiano.

Monday, 16 February 2015

Les "arrondissements" de Paris

The most populous district is the fifteenth district of the twenty districts of Paris, situated on the Rive Gauche (left bank) of the Seine. The 59-floor Tour Montparnasse is located (near) there. The first arrondissement is the smallest, lies on the right bank of the Seine, and is where the Louvre is situated. It is just under a square mile in area. The Louvre is opposite the Carrousel Garden (Jardin du Carrousel). Note: a "carrousel" is a horse parade. Banque de France is also located in the first district.

Saturday, 31 January 2015

Presidenza della Republica

The Quirinale Palace is the official residence of the Italian President.  It faces the Piazza del Quirinale. It is a relatively modern construction in the context of the history of Rome.

It is believed the Emperor Vespasian's house (founder of the Flavian Dynasty) may have stood there.

Friday, 30 January 2015

The Theory of Everything (2015)

Eddie Redmayne stars as Stephen Hawking in the film based on his life, on the book by his wife.

Sunday, 25 January 2015

Mortdecai (2015)

Mortdecai is a film released in January 2015.

The cast includes Johnny Depp as Mortdecai and Gwyneth Paltrow and Ewan McGregor in supporting roles.

It is released by the movie studio Lion's Gate. It was filmed at a budget of $60m. Johnny Depp's production company Infinitum Nihil was involved in the film. The director was American David Koepp, born in the "North Central" American state of Wisconsin and educated at UCLA.

Mortdecai is based on the novels by Kyril Bonfiglioli, an English art dealer and comic novelist, born in Eastbourne. Mortdecai's voice is described by the New Yorker as "arch and insufferably, authoritatively snobbish".